carolina launches $4.25 billion fundraising campaign...
TRANSCRIPT
New resource
center for veterans
now open.
Carolina hosts
Spellings Commission
Symposium.
Carmen Huerta-Bapat
connects to
Carolina Firsts.
OCTOBER 11, 2017
GAZETTE.UNC.EDU
@UNIVGAZETTE
CAROLINA FACULTY AND STAFF NEWSVOL. 42, NO. 16
MORE ON CAMPAIGN FOR CAROLINA LAUNCH ON PAGES 6–7
$10 million Faculty Excellence Challenge to fund faculty recruitment and retention
See FUNDRAISING page 10
Carolina launches $4.25 billion fundraising campaign
Chancellor Carol L. Folt announced the launch of “For All Kind: The Campaign for Carolina” Oct. 6 on Polk Place.
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C arolina has launched “For All Kind: The Campaign for Carolina,” an ambitious fundraising drive that seeks to raise $4.25 billion over the next five years.
Chancellor Carol L. Folt, along with Board of Trustees Chair Haywood Cochrane and Vice Chancellor for Development David Routh, announced the launch on Polk Place on Oct. 6, in a tent packed with an enthusiastic crowd of students, faculty, staff, alumni, key stakeholders, campaign leaders and volunteers.
“That $4.25 billion carries an enormous responsibility and we intend for every single dollar to be put to use in the public good,” Folt said.
The campaign is the most ambitious fundraising drive by a uni-versity in the history of the state. It is also the largest in the South-east and second largest among public institutions in the nation.
Its launch, Folt added, is “a big moment that highlights incred-ible opportunities ahead for our University and our state.”
At its core, she added, the campaign will support funding pri-orities and signature initiatives established by The Blueprint for
Next – the first unifying framework in Carolina’s history that Folt developed to guide Carolina’s growth and future direction.
“We’ve spent the past three years planning – asking each other what IS possible – and what we need to do to make it happen,” Folt said.
The gifts highlighted during the announcement but-tress the Blueprint’s key pillars – “Of the Public, for the Public” and “Innovation Made Fundamental” – and uphold
That $4.25 billion carries an enormous responsibility and we intend for every single dollar to
be put to use in the public good.
CAROL L. FOLT
Shawn Hingtgen and his research team at Carolina developed a pioneering cancer treatment method that turns skin cells to cancer-fighting stem cells able to hunt down and eradicate tumor remnants.
But Hingtgen wouldn’t be here if Caro-lina hadn’t first hunted him down at Harvard
Medical School and convinced him to trade the Ivy League for a public ivy.
To bolster the University’s efforts to recruit scholars like Hingtgen and to retain and reward current outstanding faculty, alumnus John G. Ellison Jr., of Greensboro, has pledged $10 million to establish the Faculty Excellence
Challenge. Ellison’s gift will support incentives such as salary supplements and research funds. If met, the challenge will provide at least an additional $10 million for similar support.
The Faculty Excellence Challenge will enhance Carolina’s recent faculty recruit-ment and retention efforts, which have already
resulted in a 79 percent faculty retention rate and the recruitment of 94 new faculty (18 tenured, 76 tenure-track) in academic year 2015–16.
The challenge, which runs through Oct. 8, 2018, was announced by Chancellor Carol L.
See EXCELLENCE page 10
UNIVERSITY GAZETTE2
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The School of Social Work has created a new research center that aspires to improve the lives of marginalized popu-lations around the world.
Founded and directed by social work associate pro-fessor Gina Chowa, Global Social Development Inno-vations brings together a team of interdisciplinary scholars focused on social change in communities with limited economic, social and health resources.
“We want to bring about social change,” Chowa said. “Our mission is to collaborate and build capacity for our part-ners and for scholars so that
we’re improving opportunities for rolling out services, based on evidence, to ultra-poor peo-ple who need them.”
Dean Gary L. Bowen said the center, which launches Oct. 11, supports the Univer-sity’s goal to strengthen the well-being of marginalized and vulnerable populations around the world.
“The vision and cutting-edge work of this center dem-onstrates Carolina’s leadership as a global public research uni-versity and its commitment to impacting lives in North Caro-lina and beyond,” Bowen said.
To learn more, visit gsdi.unc.edu.
Chacón begins service as diplomat in residence
New global social work center launches Oct. 11
Plan to join your colleagues for 2017 Employee Appreciation Day on Friday, Oct. 20.
The following activities are planned in the Pit and the Student Union:
Lunch from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. UNC Department Fair in the Great Hall of the Student
Union from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Live musical performances in the Pit from noon to
2 p.m.; Walk-in flu shot clinic in the Student Union, room 2518;
and Interactive playgrounds that start at 10 a.m.
Employee Appreciation Day is a work-time event with advance approval from your supervisor. In case of rain, outdoor events will be moved to the Underground Lounge in the Student Union.
Event sponsors are the Division of Workforce Strategy, Equity and Engagement; the Student Union; UNC Student Stores; and Pepsi.
Employee Appreciation Day set for Friday, Oct. 20
Gary L. Bowen
In September, Arnold A. Chacón began service as the diplomat in residence for the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. A member of the career Senior Foreign Service, Chacón most recently served as director general of the Foreign Service and director of human resources at the U.S. Department of State.
Chacón will be jointly hosted by Carolina and Duke University.“We’re excited to welcome Ambassador Chacón,” said
Ron Strauss, executive vice provost and chief international officer for Carolina. “These are challenging times in inter-national relations and for the Foreign Service, and our stu-dents will benefit from his vast experience in regions around the world.”
In addition to having an office at the FedEx Global Education Center, Chacón will be living as a scholar in residence in Winston Residence Hall.
Chacón’s residence will enable him to meet with stu-dents, coffee-house style, to talk about global issues and the foreign service.
The diplomats in residence are career foreign service officers who are located throughout the United States and are responsible for providing guidance and advice to students, professionals and the community in general about careers and opportunities in the Department of State.
Diplomats in residence are available to answer questions and share insight with those interested in foreign and civil service careers, internships and fellowships. During their tenure, they visit with students at universities, colleges and community colleges in their region.
In his previous role, Chacón led a team of 800 civil and foreign service employees who carry out the full range of human resources
activities essential to recruiting, retaining and sustaining the Depart-ment of State’s 75,000-strong workforce.
Chacón has served in a number of leadership positions in Latin America and Europe, including U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala from 2011 to 2014 and deputy chief of mission in Madrid.
To learn more about the diplomat in residence program, visit global.unc.edu/servicesresources/diplomat-in-residence.
Arnold A. Chacón
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OCTOBER 11, 2017 3
C arolina welcomed about 160 state and national lead-ers in higher education on Sept. 26 for a symposium designed to consider how far their field has come since
the 2006 release of the Spellings Commission Report on the future of higher education.
The report, written by 18 education, business and philan-thropy leaders selected by then-Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, concluded that higher education must improve by becoming “more accessible, more affordable and more account-able, while maintaining world-class quality.”
“Eleven years after the Spellings Commission laid out where we were and what we needed to do, we’re going to re-evaluate and look to the future,” said Chancellor Carol L. Folt, who gave open-ing remarks to the attendees at the Higher Expectations, Higher Education symposium at the Hill Alumni Center. The event was sponsored by the UNC system, the University and the Institute for the Arts and Humanities, with support from the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust and the Higher Calling fund.
“We all feel great optimism about the future, but we all know we need to do more. The disparities are still too great,” Folt said. “And the startlingly low economic and social mobility we still see will require an acceleration of our efforts to prepare graduates for this knowledge economy.”
Spellings, now the UNC system president, echoed these sen-timents in her keynote address at the symposium. After wryly observing that, in some ways, her current job of managing a 17-campus public university system is “payback for the so-called Spellings Commission,” she expressed support for the original report and its impact.
“I believe the commission put forward a fair, well-informed and ambitious set of goals that, frankly, are all too relevant and
prescient today, for we haven’t made as much progress as I think many of us would have hoped,” Spellings said. “The opening line of the report called higher education one of our country’s great-est success stories, and it certainly is. There’s no denying that. But it needs continuous improvement to stay that way.”
A key priority should be “fixing our very fractured system of financial aid,” she said. “We’ve sold college as the golden ticket to middle-class opportunity, then priced average families out of the market.”
Much of the discussion in the “Where Are We Now?” panel, moderated by New York Times columnist and Caro-lina graduate Frank Bruni, focused on accountability. The Spellings Commission recommended “the creation of a con-sumer-friendly information database on higher education,” which sounds like the College Scorecard created in the Barack Obama administration.
But the scorecard wasn’t popular with the panelists. Michael Lomax, president and CEO of the United Negro College
Fund, said the scorecard was “a well-intentioned goal” but one that greatly distorted the achievements of historically black colleges and institutions. “They were really going after the for-profits,” Lomax said, “but they used a meat cleaver instead of a scalpel.”
Another panel, moderated by Folt, focused on the future in discovery, entrepreneurship and the economic value of higher education.
Economic value can be tough to measure in higher education because its products include intangibles like public service and citizenship. “We hope we imbue our faculty with that sense of public mission,” said University of Virginia President Terry Sul-livan. “We see ourselves preparing students for lives of purpose and also preparing them to be engaged citizens.”
The University of Michigan combines its research mission with “place-based” service, said President Mark S. Schlissel, including autonomous cars for the Michigan automotive indus-try and water research on the Great Lakes. He’s seen a “culture shift” in faculty to value “societal utility and societal benefit” more highly.
Entrepreneurial researcher Joe DeSimone, the Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of Chemistry in the College of Arts & Sciences and the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Chemical Engineering at N.C. State University, championed diversity in research and design teams and mentorship as ways to increase value. He also had a dig for his fellow panelists, whose universities are now celebrating their bicentennials, while Carolina is about to turn 224.
“It’s certainly great to be with some university startups here,” he said.
– Susan Hudson, Gazette
11 years after the Spellings Commission, ‘we need to do more’
UNC system President Margaret Spellings addresses about 160 higher education leaders who convened in Chapel Hill to assess how far the field has come since the 2006 Spellings Commission Report on the future of higher education.
We haven’t made as much progress as I think many of us would
have hoped.
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UNIVERSITY GAZETTE4
Lanier Brown May, senior regional development officer and founder of Carolina Women’s Leadership Council, received the 2017 Mary Turner Lane Award recognizing her outstanding contributions to the lives of women on the Carolina campus.
The Association for Women Faculty and Professionals (AWFP) presented the award to May in the Anne Queen Lounge of the Campus Y last month.
May, who started at the University in 2000, staffs the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council and is a regional development officer for the Charlotte area. She also serves on the board of the Phillips Ambassadors program and is involved in the Carolina Women's Leadership Council Scholarship, which the council named for her in 2015.
Originally from Greensboro, May is a St. Mary's School and Davidson College gradu-ate. She hails from a family of Tar Heels, including her father, P. David Brown; sister, Paige Brown DuBose; brother-in-law, Will DuBose; and five recent Carolina alumni nieces and nephews. May is married to James W. May, retired executive director of the UNC College of Arts & Sciences Foundation.
In addition to committing individual gifts, the council collectively funds the Faculty Mentor-ing Awards, the Eve Marie Carson Lecture Series and the Carolina Women’s Leadership Coun-cil Scholarship Honoring Lanier Brown May. The council now serves as a network of alumnae, parents and friends of the University committed to supporting Carolina and mentoring future generations of Tar Heels.
May established the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council at the beginning of Carolina First, the University’s last major fundraising campaign, with the purpose of engaging women in University life. During the campaign, the council saw more than 24,000 women give to the University for the first time – almost $500 million in total – and placed more than 100 women on University boards.
"It is my great honor to receive the Mary Turner Lane Award and my pleasure to work with the women on the Carolina Women's Leadership Council who inspire me every day,” May said. “I look forward to seeing what Carolina women will accomplish in this upcoming campaign."
AWFP offers all women-identified employees at the University opportunities for networking, building community and learning. In addition to stewarding the Mary Turner Lane Award, the AWFP organizes social activities, seminars, discussion groups and other events. Its diverse mem-bership includes faculty, researchers, administrators, librarians, communicators, fundraisers, medical and legal professionals and other University faculty and staff.
From left, Clare Counihan, Association for Women Faculty and Professionals president and the program coordinator for faculty and staff at the Carolina Women’s Center, presents Lanier Brown May with the 2017 Mary Turner Lane Award.
Lanier Brown May receives 2017 Mary Turner Lane Award
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G regory Cizek, professor of educational measurement and evaluation in the School of Education, has been appointed to a national board that helps set policies
that guide the use of data to evaluate school performance.Cizek was one of six people appointed to the National Assess-
ment Governing Board by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. The appointees will help set policy for the National Assess-ment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which is also known as the Nation’s Report Card.
“It’s a privilege to have these accomplished leaders with such diverse backgrounds agree to oversee NAEP,” DeVos said. “The board plays an important role in assessing student achievement, and these members’ perspectives will be critical as we work to close the achievement gap and ensure all students have equal access to a great education.”
Cizek has worked for 25 years in the field of applied assessment with specializations in standard setting, validity and test security and has served as president of the National Council on Measure-ment in Education.
Cizek said his appointment fills the test and measurement expert position on the board. He began a four-year term on Oct. 1.
The 26-member nonpartisan, independent governing board determines the subjects and content of NAEP tests, sets the achievement levels for reporting and publicly releases the results.
Cizek said the NAEP program has provided the only source of data on progress in U.S. schools in important areas such as math-ematics, science, reading and other content areas. NAEP data has
been used to gauge the credibility of achievement gains claimed by states and the progress of U.S. students, to assess the effects of large-scale interventions, and to help legislators in crafting effec-tive educational policy, he said.
Cizek said one challenge that will demand the board’s atten-tion is ensuring the NAEP can continue to be a valid and reliable measure of achievement trends.
“In the face of changing content of some NAEP tests, the changing population of test takers, and other factors, the techni-cal challenge of maintaining a valid trend measure is daunting,” he said.
“Ultimately, my role will be to provide guidance with other board members to oversee a process that begins with developing assessments of difficult-to-measure constructs to creating mecha-nisms for providing useful information to policy makers, parents, educators and all citizens concerned about maximizing educa-tional opportunities and success for U.S. students,” he said.
At Carolina, Cizek teaches courses in applied psychometrics, statistics, program evaluation and research methods. His schol-arly interests include standard setting, testing policy, classroom assessment and cheating on tests.
School of Education Dean Fouad Abd-El-Khalick said Cizek is a national leader in the field of educational measurement.
“I’m certain he will make important contributions in this role,” he said.
– Michael Hobbs, School of Education
Gregory Cizek appointed to National Assessment Governing Board
Gregory Cizek of the School of Education will help set policy for the Nation's Report Card.
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OCTOBER 11, 2017 5
W here most people see columns of names and numbers, Rebecca Tippett sees a window into North Carolina’s future.
As the director of Carolina Demography, part of the Caro-lina Population Center, Tippett studies population changes in the Tar Heel state and the effects they could have in the years ahead.
“North Carolina is still adding about 100,000 new residents every year,” Tippett said. “We’ll probably have about a million more resi-dents in 10 years.”
That projected growth is enough to help the state pick up another congressional seat, Tippett said. While a larger, more diverse pop-ulation could help North Carolina earn some additional clout, it could also bring challenges.
“We really exist to help individuals, organizations, business lead-ers and policymakers across the state understand how and why North Carolina’s population is changing, and what that means for them and their organizations,” Tippett said.
Carolina Demography works with people and organiza-tions across the state and mines data from dozens of sources like tax records, census figures and other information to help business, community and political leaders plan for their communi-ties’ futures.
“Everywhere that I go, I get asked questions about who’s coming here and why are they coming here or what are they doing once they get here,” Tippett said. “It’s been a really exciting opportunity for me, and I think for the Population Center, to see how hungry North Carolinians are for this information.”
To view a video relating to this story, go to unc.edu/spotlight/crystal-ball-tar-heel-state.
– Rob Holliday, University Communications
A crystal ball for the Tar Heel state
Annual benefits enrollment is now under way for fac-ulty and staff. The enrollment window is open until Oct. 31, with plan changes effective on Jan. 1, 2018. Now is the time to review your current benefit plan elections and decide if any changes should be made for the next calendar year.
All State Health Plan subscribers will be automati-cally enrolled in the 70/30 plan for 2018 unless you take action to enroll in the 80/20 plan instead. Both plans will once again offer a wellness credit for tobacco attestation. In addition to health plans, now is the time to review your options for other benefit plans, such as flexible spending accounts, life insurance, vision and dental care.
For additional resources and instructions, visit hr.unc.edu/rockenroll. The benefits team in the Office of Human Resources will be assisting employees at both the Office of Human Resources, located at 104 Airport Drive, and at the SILS Computer Lab in Manning Hall. Hours and locations are available at the link above. For additional resources and instructions specific to the State Health Plan, consult the State Health Plan's Active Mem-bers 2018 Open Enrollment link at shp.nctreasurer.com.
To enroll, log into ConnectCarolina and click on "Enroll or Change Benefits" located in the self ser-vice menu.
October is time to Rock Enroll for benefits
Michele Bowen, training specialist in Finance and Administration’s Continuous Improvement and Staff Development department, came to the Oct. 4 Employee Forum meeting to bring the delegates’ attention to a looming shortage of skilled trades staff for Facilities Ser-vices, a group rarely mentioned in terms of recruitment and retention.
“Facilities is aging out. They are well trained and have a lot of experience, but they are retiring and taking that training and experience with them,” Bowen said.
To take advantage of that experience before it goes out the door – and to add younger staff members who can take on the work – Bowen’s office has launched a skilled trades training initiative that brings together sea-soned staff members and high school or community col-lege students looking for a career.
Forum asked to support Facilities plan to address skilled trades shortage
Facilities is aging out. They are well trained and have a lot of
experience, but they are retiring and taking that training and
experience with them.
MICHELE BOWEN
The initiative benefits students who aren’t looking for a four-year degree but want to work for more than minimum wage as electricians, plumbers, mechanics, carpenters, masons, HVAC technicians or other skilled trade positions. The University benefits from being able to train young employees to replace a retiring workforce.
Through the initiative, the University recruits students in area high school career technical education programs and community colleges for temporary paid on-the-job training at the University.
The “paid” part is critical to the initiative’s success, Bowen said. “When we bring the students in, we want to pay them. And the money for the temporary positions has to be much more than minimum wage. The market is on their side, not our side.”
In other action, the forum: Passed a resolution in support of the University’s
continuing efforts to provide training, counseling and other services for faculty, staff and students affected by interpersonal violence;
Received information about services related to gender-based violence;
Learned about the new Carolina Closet program, in which anyone with a One Card can borrow pro-fessional clothes for up to a week; and
Received advice from ITS Security about freezing their credit following the recent Equifax security breach.
Rebecca Tippett
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UNIVERSITY GAZETTE6
Anton Henning, Interior No. 215, 2003, oil on canvas. Artists Rights Society, New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, from the Townsend collection.
A phenomenal year is now even better at the Ackland
At the Oct. 6 public launch of “For all Kind: The Campaign for Carolina,” Chancellor Carol L. Folt announced a gift of more than $50 mil-lion from alumni John and Marree Townsend of Greenwich, Connecticut. Working closely with deans and campus leadership to identify their highest priorities, the Townsends chose to support areas where their gift would have the greatest impact.
Their commitment provides $25 million in works of art to the Ackland Art Museum; $10 million to the College of Arts & Sciences, including an initial commitment to the Insti-tute for the Arts and Humanities; $10 million to Kenan-Flagler Business School; a gift of more than one $1 million to Carolina athletics; and a portion to be allocated at a later date.
“We are incredibly grateful to John and Mar-ree for their generous and meaningful gift for the Campaign for Carolina that speaks directly to their passion for excellence, commitment to helping future generations of Tar Heels and their love for Carolina,” Folt said. “Their gift will help the arts play a fundamental role at Carolina, advance our core mission in Arts & Sciences and the business school and help us
maintain outstanding athletic programs. Their belief in Carolina’s capacity to change lives and willingness to help in so many ways inspires us all and creates exciting momentum for the campaign.”
The Townsends are a true Carolina family. Their fathers are alumni, as are their two daugh-ters. John’s mother, Beverley Chalk Townsend, is also a 1953 graduate and Phi Beta Kappa. The couple have long supported and volunteered for the University, and for them, this gift is espe-cially meaningful.
“Carolina is a place that we both love, and this is definitely a shared enthusiasm between us,” John said on behalf of the couple. “We were privileged to go to the University, and we both got fabulous educations, for which we are grate-ful. Carolina was one of the first organizations that we felt fortunate to be able to support, and it’s been such a rewarding place to continue to give to over the years. It’s wonderful to watch our contributions making a difference.”
John Townsend retired as a senior adviser with Tiger Management Corp. in 2015 after more than 30 years in investment management and banking. A Campaign for Carolina Steering
Committee co-chair, Townsend also serves on the Chancellor’s Philanthropic Council, the Ackland Art Museum National Advisory Board, the UNC-Chapel Hill Endowment Fund Board, the UNC-Chapel Hill Founda-tion Board and the UNC-Chapel Hill Invest-ment Fund Board. He previously served on the Board of Trustees, UNC Kenan-Flagler
Board of Visitors and the 2013 Campaign Plan-ning Cabinet.
Marree Townsend owns Marree Townsend Interiors in Greenwich, Connecticut. She serves on the Arts & Sciences Foundation Board of Directors, the Campaign for Carolina Women’s Campaign Cabinet and the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council.
UNC receives $50 million commitment from John and Marree Townsend
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John Townsend and his wife, Marree, made a gift of more than $50 million to the University at the start of the Campaign for Carolina.
For the Ackland Art Museum, 2017 has already been a phe-nomenal year.
In January, Carolina graduate Sheldon Peck and his wife, Leena, made a $25 million commitment to the Ackland Art Museum. That gift included an $8 million endowment and a $17 million art gift that included seven works by Rembrandt.
The year got even better last week as Carolina kicked off its multiyear fundraising campaign, “For All Kind: The Campaign for Carolina.” As part of the launch, officials announced three more gifts for the Ackland valued at $41.5 million that include diverse art works from a wide variety of artists.
“It’s impossible to express how excited we all feel about some-thing that happens so infrequently actually happening several times in one year,” said Ackland director Katie Ziglar.
The gifts announced last week include: a $25 million gift from alumni John L. Townsend III and
Marree Townsend that features a collection of 150 pieces of art by American and European modern masters, includ-ing paintings and prints by Joan Mitchell and prints of Jas-per Johns' most iconic images. Other highlights include works by Howard Hodgkin, Alex Katz, Marsden Hartley, Ad Reinhardt, Hans Hofmann, Gerhard Richter, Richard
Diebenkorn, Jennifer Bartlett, Lee Krasner, Sean Scully, Anton Henning, Rachel Howard, Glenn Brown, Mark Alexander and Adrien Ghenie;
an $11.5 million gift from alumnus John G. Ellison Jr. that features Joan Mitchell’s 1967 “Untitled,” a 1971 untitled oil and charcoal on paper by Willem de Kooning and Helen Frankenthaler’s 1976 work “Vernal”; and
a $5 million landmark gift from former Ackland Director Charles W. Millard III that encompasses his entire 375-work collection ranging from South Asian sculpture and 19th-century photographs to North Carolina pottery and 20th-century abstrac-tion. Millard’s gift also includes early cartoons and comic strips, Byzantine earthenware of the 12th century, Japanese calligraphy and master prints from the Western tradition.
With these commitments, the Ackland has secured gifts total-ing $66.5 million in this year alone. The museum has set a $250 million campaign goal.
Chancellor Carol L. Folt said the gifts “continue an incred-ible year of support for Carolina’s enduring commitment to the visual arts.”
OCTOBER 11, 2017 7
“The generosity of John Ellison, Charlie Millard and John and Marree Townsend and our Arts Everywhere initiative is making Carolina a prominent destination for the visual arts,” Folt said.
Ziglar said the gifts are a tribute to the affection that alumni have for Carolina.
“These wonderful gifts come from wonderful donors dem-onstrating a wellspring of generosity, intelligence and under-standing of the visual arts having a key role in higher education,” Ziglar said. “I want you to know that 10,500 students from 300 classes in 30 different disciplines are taught at the Ackland every year to look close and think far.”
Ziglar said those words – to look close and think far – cap-ture the meaning of the museum’s work and are in keeping with the chancellor’s Blueprint for Next, which will guide Carolina’s growth and future direction.
“We promote the fact that art is meant for all kind to enjoy and appreciate,” Ziglar said. “Every great university has a great art museum. It is our goal to become the pre-eminent global public research art museum in the United States. With your help, we can. With these marvelous gifts, we are well on our way.”
– Natalie Vizuete, University Communications
With the Institute for Convergent Science, Carolina will lead the world in bringing scientific expertise together to improve people’s lives, Chancellor Carol L. Folt said.
“The UNC Institute for Convergent Science will be at the heart of that vision, giving proven convergent thinkers both here and around the globe the tools and space they need to harness the tremendous amount of talent at their disposal,” Folt said. “The opportunity is to take that talent and channel it into impact that makes a true difference in the real world.”
The University announced the UNC Institute for Convergent Science when it launched its multiyear fundraising campaign, “For All Kind: The Campaign for Carolina,” on Oct. 6. The ini-tiative includes the creation of an infrastructure endowment and a building fund to make the institute a reality. Folt said the invest-ment in the Institute for Convergent Science will be returned many times over, on campus and far beyond.
The institute will allow Carolina to erase barriers, synthesize information and translate research into impact. The institute will also incubate a spirit of collaboration that raises the intellectual climate of the entire campus. With this multidisciplinary and collaborative approach, Carolina researchers will tackle the world’s biggest problems.
Carolina’s Virtual Lung Project is a key example of the benefits of a convergent science approach. Seeking a better way to treat cystic fibrosis, a team of 15 Carolina mathematicians, computer scientists, physicists, chemists, biomedical engineers and health
sciences faculty came together to study the debilitating lung disease. This led to the development of drug therapies administered via inhalation and a deeper understanding of how gene-based defense mechanisms function. Having a variety of experts at the table enabled Carolina to create a different approach to understanding treatment issues that health scientists had not yet addressed.
Kevin M. Guskiewicz said he pledged to be “strategic, bold and student-focused” when he became dean of the College of Arts and Sciences two years ago.
“The UNC Institute for Convergent Science is all of the above: a place ready to break down silos, take on the world’s
grand challenges and integrate research and teaching for maxi-mum student benefit,” Guskiewicz said.
The Institute for Convergent Science will be built on the remaining site of the Physical Sciences Complex. Part of the most ambitious building program in the University’s history, the complex has brought together chemists and computer scientists, physicists and materials experts for more than a decade.
The institute represents the crucial, culminating piece to this expansive vision, Folt said.
Eventually, the building will house approximately 45 faculty members and more than 100 graduate students, research fellows and research technicians. One floor will be devoted to technology transfer and incubator space for Carolina faculty researchers. The building also will be the home of the Department of Applied Physical Sciences, which transcends traditional scientific boundaries by linking chemists with applied mathematicians, physicists and biologists to work on critical problems.
The ability to adapt to meet the needs of a changing world has been a powerful part of the Carolina spirit from the start.
“Carolina was the first model for public higher education in America, and we can do it again,” Folt said. “We will tap the power of intellectual centers across the country while at the same time serve as the home for a new way of translating research for the betterment of society.”
– Gary Moss, Gazette
Endowments established for UNC Institute for Convergent Science
Édouard Manet, Guerre Civile, 1871, lithograph, from the Millard collection
Joan Mitchell, Untitled, 1967, oil on canvas, 76¾-by-44¾ inches. Estate of Joan Mitchell, from the Ellison collection.
The institute will allow the College of Arts & Sciences to expand the Be A Maker network beyond the BeAM space in Murray Hall, where Rich Superfine, speaking, and other professors, students and staff are able to use technologies like 3-D printing, electron-ics, wood- and metal-working and digital fabrication.
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Get fit for free this fall on Thursdays at the Student Recreation Center. These 30-minute fitness classes for faculty/staff members, which begin at 1:15 p.m., are designed to introduce participants to new class formats. To join, come to the SRC and let the front desk know you’re here for the employee class. You’ll be asked to sign a waiver. No membership is necessary. If you have questions, please contact Kyle Harmon at [email protected].
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UNIVERSITY GAZETTE8
GOT NEWS?
The Gazette welcomes your story ideas and calendar announcements. To make sure your information reaches us in time for the next issue, please submit it at least 10 days before our publication date. You can find our latest publication schedule online at gazette.unc.edu/about/.
The next Gazette will be published Oct. 25. To announce events occurring Oct. 26–Nov.15, please submit your information no later than Oct. 16. Email us at [email protected] or submit through the Got News? page on our website (gazette.unc.edu/got-news/).
OCTOBER 12 AND 19
OCTOBER 13 –14
OCTOBER 25
OCTOBER 13
OCTOBER 16
Gregor Thuswaldner of North Park University will present the lecture Between Utopia and Reality: Stefan Zweig’s Europe at 5:30 p.m. in Dey Hall’s Toy Lounge. The talk will be followed by a screening of Farewell to Europe, a 2016 film about Zweig (1881–1942), the cosmopolitan writer, known for his pacifistic attitude and idea of a transnational Europe, who spent his last decade in self-exile from his war-torn home.
OCTOBER 16
Join the Department of Music for a concert featuring both the UNC Wind Ensemble, conducted by Evan Feldman, and UNC Symphony Band, conducted by Arris Golden, at 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Hall. For this scholarship benefit concert, tickets are $10 general admission and $5 for students or UNC faculty/staff. Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance by calling 919-843-3333.
Enjoy a free concert at 4 p.m. as part of the Fred and Gail Fearing Jazz for a Friday Afternoon series in Moeser Auditorium, Hill Hall. The UNC Jazz Combos will give a concert along with the Jamey Aebersold Visiting Jazz Artist, trombonist Andre Hayward. The same musicians will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday in Moeser Auditorium. This is a scholarship benefit concert, with tickets $10 general admission or $5 for students or UNC faculty/staff. Tickets can be purchased at the door.
Come to the Student Union auditorium at 11:30 a.m. for an hour of amateur footage from the Southern Historical Collection. Selections include film of former slaves and events such as weddings, vacations, protests and more. Get tips on storing and labeling your home movies. Popcorn, drinks, bingo and prizes.
JoAnna Klein, contributing writer to The New York Times, will speak on how to communicate science in an engaging, informative way. The free talk and reception will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Pleasants Room of Wilson Library.
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OCTOBER 18 –NOVEMBER 5
OCTOBER 25
OCTOBER 19
OCTOBER 24
OCTOBER 25
Developing Landscapes, currently on display in the Allcott Gallery in Hanes Art Center, is a selection of work from alumni of the Market Photo Workshop, a school of photography and project space based in Johannesburg, South Africa. The selected photographs engage the South African landscape as a complex accumulation marked by Apartheid-era policies of segregation and forced removal and post-1994 negotiations of belonging. From noon to 1 p.m., the gallery will also be the home of a lunchtime discussion about the exhibit with associate professor Carol Magee, photographer Uche Okpa-Iroha and curators assistant professor Jina Valentine and lecturer Gesche Würfel. The exhibit continues through Nov. 2, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Monday-Friday, with a closing reception 5–7 p.m. Oct. 26.
Oct. 20. Deadline for untenured assistant or associate professors, research assistant or associate professors, and clinical assistant and associate professors to apply for Junior Faculty Development Awards paid from IBM and R.J. Reynolds Industries funds. For more information, visit provost.unc.edu/announcements/competitive-research-page.
Nov. 6. Nominations due for the 2018 Edward Kidder Graham Faculty Service Award, to be presented at the 2018 University Day ceremony. This award was established in 2010 to recognize outstanding service by a member of the voting faculty. Criteria, eligibility, past winners, and a link to the simplified process for submitting a nomination online, is available at facultygov.unc.edu/awards/edward-kidder-graham-award.
Nov. 30. Deadline to apply for the Employee Forum’s Professional Development Grant. The grant provides permanent University employees additional funding to help cover professional development opportunities, up to $500 of allowed expenses. Funding must be for individual benefit, relate to the employee’s position and meet a professional development purpose (not departmental). Application criteria and other relevant information are available at employeeforum.unc.edu/awards/professional-development-grants.
DEADLINES TO WATCH
The latest production from PlayMakers Repertory Company is playwright Kate Hamill’s fresh, comic take on Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. This eminently theatrical adaptation follows the fortunes (and misfortunes) of the Dashwood sisters – sensible Elinor and hypersensitive Marianne – as they learn to navigate gossipy late 18th-century England after their father’s sudden death. Performances are 7:30 p.m. Tuesday–Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday and 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28 at Paul Green Theatre. Tickets start at $15, and faculty/staff have a 10 percent discount. Call 919-962-7529 or visit playmakersrep.org.
Learn all about lab safety and how to dispose of hazardous waste correctly at the Lab Safety Fair, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. in the west lobby of Koury Oral Health Sciences Building. The fair features a series of 30-minute classes, exhibits, vendors and prizes.
Join artist Ben Alper at 5:30 p.m. at the Sloane Art Gallery as he talks about the inspiration and creative working process behind his first three publications: Adrift, A Series of Occurrences and A New Nothing. Alper, a UNC MFA alum, is active in important trends in contemporary photography – independently publishing his own photobooks and creating collaborative projects using social media.
Come see the documentary Footprints of Pan-Africanism and stay for a discussion with filmmaker Shirikiana Aina at 7 p.m. at the Stone Center. The free event is part of the Diaspora Film Festival. The film revisits the era of Ghana’s emergence into independence, when Africans on the continent and in the diaspora participated in building a liberated territory.
UNIVERSITY GAZETTE10
EXCELLENCE from page 1
FUNDRAISING from page 1
Carolina’s commitment to grow and evolve while remaining rooted in its public service mission, Folt said.
THREE SIGNATURE INITIATIVESFolt highlighted three signature initiatives, starting with The
Carolina Edge, a campaign to raise $1 billion to support under-graduate scholarships and graduate fellowships in areas such as the Carolina Covenant, middle-income scholarships, merit scholars, summer internship grants, athletics and graduate and professional school financial aid.
“This is the single biggest fundraising initiative in our his-tory and it sits at the heart of our identity and vision,” Folt said. “This is our dream to eliminate all financial barriers to a great education and to recruit the very best, from all backgrounds, across all schools and help them succeed and become leaders of tomorrow. We don’t want cost or debt to be a limiting factor for any student.”
A second pan-university initiative is Arts Everywhere, which seeks to revolutionize academics and enhance public service at Carolina by investing in sustained creative practice, live arts experiences and arts learning. In support of it, Folt announced three major art gifts collectively valued at $45 million to the Ackland Art Museum that will increase the museum’s encyclopedic collection and accelerate its mission to become the preeminent public university art museum in the country.
The third initiative is to create the UNC Institute for Conver-gent Science that will help tackle the world’s pressing problems by speeding the commercialization of new discoveries, break-throughs and treatments. The way it will do it, Folt added, isW through greater cross-disciplinary collaboration among students, researchers and entrepreneurs.
“We are really good at collaboration, but we want to be better,” Folt said.
As part of the campaign kickoff, the University also announced two gifts, both with challenges to match the donation - $10 mil-lion to help recruit, retain and reward current outstanding faculty by alumnus John G. Ellison Jr. and $20 million from Steve and Debbie Vetter to support education for military families.
“WHAT ARE YOU FOR?”Finally, John L. Townsend III was greeted with thunderous
applause and a standing ovation after Routh called him to the stage to talk about the sweeping $50 million gift that he and his wife, Marree, gave to the campaign that will benefit the Ackland
Art Museum, the College of Arts & Sciences, Kenan-Flagler Business School and Carolina athletics.
Townsend, an alumnus serving as chair of the Campaign for Carolina, said he and his wife discovered “the transcendent joy of philanthropy” after they made the commitment to give.
“I would challenge each one of you to do the same,” he said.Before making the gift, Routh said, Townsend asked him and
Folt: What are your strategic priorities that will yield the greatest return on your investment?
“A wonderful question and a thoughtful approach to Carolina philanthropy,” Routh added.
As a result of that conversation, the couple’s gift includes $25
million worth of art to Ackland Museum – a gift the Townsends were motivated to make to help elevate the visual arts at Carolina to the same level of the performing arts.
Folt and Routh then challenged people in the audience to ask themselves this question: “What are you for?”
“One of the most exciting things about a campaign like this is that it gives us a chance to tell our story and to have every one of you put a stake in the ground about what you care about,” Routh said. “What has caused you to love this place for so long?”
– Gary Moss, Gazette
Folt at the Oct. 6 launch of “For All Kind: The Campaign for Carolina,” a fundraising drive with a $4.25 billion goal.
“John’s extraordinary pledge jumpstarts the Faculty Excellence Challenge and sup-ports our mission to attract and retain tal-ented faculty who open minds and change the lives of our students,” Folt said. “John has been a dedicated Tar Heel volunteer and contribu-tor to our University for decades. Thanks to his wonderful investment in Carolina, we have the opportunity to champion our faculty whose dedi-cated work helps create our understanding of sci-ence, medicine and the humanities.”
The Faculty Excellence Challenge supports a key priority in the Campaign for Carolina – Faculty & Scholarship: The 21st Century Professoriate – which aims to raise funds to help the University attract, reward and retain top faculty amidst stiff competition from other institutions. It also supports the core pillars of the University’s overarching Blueprint for Next – “Of the Public, for the Public” and “Innovation Made Fundamental” – which uphold Carolina’s commitment to grow and evolve while remaining rooted in its public ser-vice mission.
“I have been fortunate in my life and career to have incredible teachers, mentors and leaders who invested their time and energy in my suc-cess, not just in the business world, but in every
facet of my life,” Ellison said. “So many of those seminal individuals were my professors here, and their impact on my life has not only been profound, but it continues even today. I want that for every student who comes to Carolina, because they deserve it and society needs their leadership for our future.”
Ellison, chairman of Ellison Co. Inc. and a Campaign for Carolina Steering Committee co-chair, also committed artwork valued at more than $11.5 million to the Ackland Art Museum. Ellison has served on multiple Uni-versity boards, including the UNC Board of Visitors and the UNC Institute for the Arts and Humanities Advisory Board. He concluded an eight-year tenure on the Board of Trustees in 2011.John G. Ellison Jr.
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At the launch of the University’s five-year fundraising drive, Vice Chancellor for University Development David Routh challenged people in the audience to ask themselves, “What are you for?”
OCTOBER 11, 2017 11
A t their September meeting, Univer-sity Board of Trustees members saw the wide sweep of Carolina’s impact
on North Carolina – from its established record preparing lawyers for the banking and financing industry to its expanding capacity to respond to environmental issues ranging from oyster resto-ration to addressing the lingering effects of Hur-ricane Matthew.
The impact on the state’s environment was highlighted in a presentation about the N.C. Policy Collaboratory that the N.C. General Assembly created at Carolina in 2016.
Brad Ives, the collaboratory’s executive direc-tor and the University’s chief sustainability offi-cer, said Chancellor Carol L. Folt came up with the word “collaboratory” as part of the title for the initiative.
“What I love about the word is this idea of a laboratory of collaboration to bring people to try things that are truly experimental,” Folt said. Ives and his team have forged partnerships with faculty members across Carolina and the UNC system over the past year, Folt added.
The collaboratory, Ives said, is intended to be a “center without walls” in which scientists can perform their research without regard to physi-cal location. As part of its charge from the leg-islature, the collaboratory should disseminate best practices, lead or participate in projects around the state and make recommendations to the General Assembly.
The legislature committed $8.15 million to fund the collaboratory over the its first three years – support that could be used to leverage an additional $11.65 million in UNC research, said Jeffrey Warren, the collabora-tory’s research director.
The collaboratory now has 14 active projects across the state, and two more will be added by the end of the year, Warren added.
Trustee Jefferson W. “Jeff” Brown asked War-ren how quickly the state will be able to bounce back from Hurricane Matthew, which spawned historic flooding in central and eastern North Carolina in October 2016 and caused an esti-mated $1.5 billion in damage.
Warren said it remains difficult to predict when full recovery will occur. He added, “It is safe to say that our research will help us respond to the next one and to bounce back quicker.”
The board also heard from Burton Craige Professor of Law Lissa L. Broome about the UNC School of Law Center for Bank-ing and Finance, which was created in 2000 to enrich the professional development of law students interested in careers in banking and finance.
Broome, who serves as the center’s direc-tor, reviewed how the center supports students, including opportunities to attend conferences where they can meet industry professionals.
Four law students involved with the center –third-year law students Monica Burks of Detroit
and Roy Dixon of Salisbury; second-year law students Laura Gritz of Denver and Jake Rifkin of West Deptford, New Jersey – also gave brief presentations.
Afterward, Folt called them back to the podium to ask them to talk about “the one thing you love” about the law school.
Burks said she loved the feeling of inclu-siveness. For Rifkin, it was the atmosphere of
collegiality. Gritz prized “the opportunity to learn something every single day – and to push myself every single day.”
Rifkin said what he loved most about the law school was its capacity to prepare him and oth-ers for the next thing – no matter what the next thing turns out to be.
– Gary Moss, Gazette
Collaboratory, finance center highlighted for trustees
Third-year law student Monica Burks tells how her education has been enhanced by the UNC School of Law Center for Banking and Finance.
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Four years ago, in a small room tucked away in the Student Union, Trustee Haywood Cochrane and then Carolina student Jacob Hinton sketched out a vision of a resource center for the University’s veterans.
They scribbled their plan on the back of a napkin.On Sept. 28, their vision became a reality when Carolina offi-
cially opened the Carolina Veterans Resource Center, a space designated for veterans and military-affiliated students.
“This is a recognition of what you have done, and what you will do for this University,” Cochrane told the veterans at a rib-bon cutting ceremony. “For me, this is a dream come true.”
Cochrane, Chancellor Carol L. Folt and members of the University’s military community were on hand for the ribbon cutting for the center, which is located on South Campus in Odum Village.
“This building really is a case where students led, and we saw a need and were able to meet it,” Folt said. “This truly is a dedi-cated space on campus with resources and information for our military-affiliated students and veterans. This demonstrates an ongoing commitment to [veterans] by UNC and the state of North Carolina.”
For years, Carolina has provided educational opportunities for service members. Those opportunities include Kenan-Fla-gler Business School’s online MBA, accounting programs and executive development courses, which host senior military lead-ers to accelerate transitions to new leadership roles; the School of Medicine’s physician assistant degree program; and UNC
Core, an online program that prepares students for degree-com-pletion programs by fulfilling core requirements needed to enroll.
In 2015, Amber Mathwig was hired as the University’s first Student Veterans Assistance Coordinator to support the Univer-sity’s military-affiliated students, including veterans, active duty personnel, reservists, National Guard, spouses and dependents.
The Carolina Veterans Resource Center, Folt said, is the Uni-versity’s next step to better support and serve Carolina's veterans, service members and military families. The new center serves as a central location for services focused on their needs, such as help-ing veterans find and apply for specialized scholarships.
The center will also provide study space, a lounge, conference and meeting space and a lactation room for the students.
“It creates a centralized location for veterans to meet, which is critical,” said Carolina alumnus and 12-year U.S. Air Force vet-eran Gantt Kinlaw. “It creates an environment that helps veter-ans succeed and graduate at a higher rate.”
For Hinton and other former Carolina Veterans Organization leaders, the ribbon cutting celebrated the culmination of years of work to help more veterans succeed in higher education.
“Just walking here and seeing everybody and what has hap-pened and the people that have driven the project after I had the vision, I’m extremely proud,” he said. “Not just for my efforts, but more importantly the people after me who were able to drive that vision and success here and to make it come to fruition.”
– Brandon Bieltz, University Communications
Carolina cuts ribbon for veterans resource center
Gantt Kinlaw, UNC class of 2017 and Air Force veteran, says the new resource center “creates an environment that helps veter-ans succeed and graduate at a higher rate.”
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UNIVERSITY GAZETTE12
Once upon a time, Carmen Huerta-Bapat’s mother announced she was marrying a California longshoreman and moving the family from Mexico to join him in Los Angeles.
“As a 12-year-old, it was so exciting,” Huerta-Bapat said. “I was too young to think about the implications. When they said we would be moving to California, I could only think about one thing: We were going to Disneyland.”
But instead of a fairytale kingdom, she entered a world where she didn’t know anybody or understand the culture or even speak the same language. “Disneyland” was one of the few Eng-lish words she knew at the time.
Getting to happily ever after was going to take hard work and sheer will. But, even at 12, she knew she could do it. Her first-grade teacher in Guadalajara, Mexico, taught her that when she refused to accept an assignment the little girl had rushed through so she could go play.
“She marked an X across my paper,” Huerta-Bapat recalled, “and said to me, ‘You know why I did this? Because I know you could to a lot better.’”
EXCEEDING HER OWN EXPECTATIONSHuerta-Bapat was reluctant to share that story five years ago
when she took on the job as director of Carolina Firsts. The pro-gram, created by the College of Arts & Sciences, serves the nearly 20 percent of undergraduates who are the first in their families to go to college.
Now she uses her personal experiences to connect to students whose stories of survival and resilience echo her own. She does it to remind them that overcoming adversity should be a source of pride, not shame.
Huerta-Bapat tells them about how hard she worked at her homework. When she started eighth grade, her parents bought her a machine that translated her schoolwork into Spanish, a slow, tedious process.
“In high school, I spent at least six to eight hours every night on my homework,” Huerta-Bapat said. “When I want something, I can be very determined.”
What she wanted was to get an A in every class. And she did.When she graduated in 1996, that uninterrupted string of
As made her the class valedictorian. But her happiness in her achievement wasn’t shared by all her classmates.
“I was the first Mexican valedictorian at my school and there was a revolt against me,” Huerta-Bapat said. “That was my rude awakening to America.”
Undaunted, Huerta-Bapat enrolled at Santa Clara University, a private institution in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Just months before, her father had been laid off from work, and her family was forced to go to a food pantry because they had so little money.
“I remember asking my mom, ‘Do you want me to stay? I can get a full-time job to help with the bills.’ And she said, ‘Absolutely not. You are going. You are going. You are going.’”
Huerta-Bapat has been going ever since.
A FINAL TRIUMPH TO CELEBRATEAfter graduating from Santa Clara with degrees in political sci-
ence and Spanish literature, Huerta-Bapat completed her mas-ter’s degree in political science at Rice University.
She came to Carolina in 2007 when her husband, Navin Bapat, accepted a faculty position in the political science department.
Shortly after they arrived, she began work on her doctorate in sociology – a change in discipline encouraged by a mentor at Rice who detected her “sociologist tendencies.”
In high school, I spent at least six to eight hours every night on my
homework. When I want something, I can be very determined.
CARMEN HUERTA-BAPAT
Carmen Huerta-Bapat stands next to “the elf,” the solar-powered motorized bike her husband, Navin Bapat, bought for her as a graduation present this spring. “He knew how much I wanted a bike that could accommodate our three daughters in the back seat,” she said.
Running down a dreamCarmen Huerta-Bapat inspires
Carolina Firsts students by sharing
her own struggles to reach success.
Carmen Huerta-Bapat celebrates with her mother after receiving her doctorate in sociology in May. Her research interests include assess-ing inequalities in the educational system and understanding the im-portance of parental involvement in an education setting for racial and ethnic minorities.
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The juggling act that followed – holding down a full-time job, being the mother to three young daughters and working on her dissertation – seemed to be too much, Huerta-Bapat acknowledged.
She would have quit, if not for the support of her husband and encouragement from political science professor Frank Baumgartner, her adviser and mentor, and from Abigail Panter, assistant dean of the College of Arts & Sciences.
They all believed in her too much to allow her to quit believ-ing in herself, she said.
Because of them, she said, she was able to walk across the stage during the hooding ceremony at the Smith Center this May.
Her family watched from the audience, holding silver balloons that spelled out “PHD.” When her mother took the balloons to
the stage to meet Huerta-Bapat, University photographer Jon Gar-diner captured a moment that soon spread across the Internet.
“Seeing those three grandiose balloons makes me feel the weight those letters represent for me, for my three girls, for my husband, for my family and for my first-generation students,” Huerta-Bapat said.
In the photo, she also sees “the tangled mess of strings looming in the air” and “how my mom is standing tall and proud right next to me, helping me untangle my life.”
– Gary Moss, Gazette